Ok, so 8 million things have been going on and my blog has been SEVERLY neglected. I apologize to the Gods of Blog.
So I moved into my new apartment and the former tenant left it FILTHY. I took pictures so my family would see that I wasn’t exaggerating, but they are too disgusting to post. I spent about 4 hours cleaning the bedroom…picking up all the trash on the floor, sweeping the big stuff up, vaccuuming, mopping floors and WALLS (yes, they were that dirty), and cleaning the furniture i bought from the last tenant. Then I hit the bathroom…the bedroom was immaculate in comparision. The tiles in the tub area were actually white, not the light yellow they appeared to be. Several rounds of Comet and Tilex plus a lot of elbow grease returned the tub and tiles to their original white. I know you are all asking how this happened and why i took such a filthy apartment. Well, a friend (E) and I are moving in with a girl who is staying on for a semester past her senior year and her roommates graduated, so we are taking over the lease rather than starting a new one. E and I are living with her until she graduates in December and then we have the place to ourselves. So anyways, when E and I went to see the apartment, my possible bedroom was locked, so I didn’t get to see it in person. But the rest of the apartment was neat and clean and looked fine, so I thought nothing of it…boy, was I wrong. The girl that lived there before me was just a total pig, end of story. Well, it took me into the wee hours of the night to clean my room and bathroom in the ninety degree heat on the 6th floor. The only bit left to give a good cleaning to is the rust stains on the tub under the faucet. I have read about some things to try online but I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions? Especially natural/green methods.
So plenty of knitting has been going on and even some sewing [no crocheting lately 
]. I finished up a cream blanket I was making out of Dreambaby DK. I actually started it sometime 2 winters ago when 
knitting ADD struck and I put it into storage and totally forgot about it until I came across it when cleaning out my crafting closet in MA (note to self: must make smaller satellite crafting closet in MD). It has a seed stitch border and looks like a bunch of squares. I based the design on a yarn sample in Fabric Place for DreamBaby DK. Its so deliciously soft-perfect for a baby!
So I picked it back up and finished it. All that remains to be do is to press it so it’s nice and flat and straight.
I have plenty of yarn left over, so I decided to make a set with a blanket, a sweater, footie pants, and possibly a hat. I made the sweater based on Erika Knight’s Classic Cashmere Sweater. I started a sweater with this pattern about 5 or 6 years ago and never finished. I photocopied the pattern out of a library book and lost it, so I kind of improvised the pattern by using pictures from Ravelry. It turned out quite nicely and just need to be stitched up and blocked.
Now I am looking for the perfect pattern to make the footie pants. Erika Knight has the Cashmere Leggings to match the sweater, but I don’t have the pattern and I wasn’t wild about the waistband. It’s easy enough to make the waist banb in an elastic one, but, again, I don’t have the pattern and there are tons out there. I am definately looking for any suggestions that anyone has, especially for free patterns that won’t break my student’s budget.
I totally fell in love with Jennifer Little’s (Looking Glass Knits) Sheep Yoke Baby Cardigan when I was browsing through patterns on Ravelry (click here for the pattern on Ravelry). The pattern is available free on her website or as a Ravelry download. Take a look at it…I dare you NOT to fall in love with it!
The pattern calls for the checkerboard design and the stripes to be made in blue or pink, for a boy or girl, but I went with a light green so it’s unisex. It’s knitted top top and there is minimal seaming to do (yay!).
Here’s the first part of the yoke on my circs:
The design is in a chart that, once you look it over, is really easy to figure out and follow. The white sheep are done in garter stitch for texture, but Jennifer says that they can be made in stockinette if you want. At the end, the sheep’s little legs and ears have to be added.
Here’s a close up of the sheep (sans ears and legs so they look like clouds):
I made it in the smallest size with Sirdar Snuggly DK (using just over a skein of the oatmeal MC and a teensy bit of the other colors…makes it easier to make more!) on size 6 circs. My gauge is always smaller than what is called for, so my sweater is for a baby 3-6 months.
It’s almost done. I blocked the sleeves so I could stitch it together better and I am blocking the front edges to make it easier to pick up and knit for the button bands.
After the button bands I can seam up the sleeves and finish the little sheep. I bought some nice fake wood buttons to sew on that will add to the cardi’s coziness. This was a really fast knit. I did the majority of the body and sleeves in a weekend and a few bus rides to work. I will definately be making it again. I need to find a baby to put it on…. Maybe this will have to be packed away with my other baby favs.
Ok, so now some teasers for my next post (this one is getting too long).
Can you guess what I’m making??
I promise my next post won’t be in 2 months again….
Btw: Please blame my sister for not sending me the pictures of Meghan’s Sweater all done and Ryan’s Pasha all stuffed and the pictures from Fenway. They are on her camera because mine was temporarily MIA, having a sick day, or misplaced. Thank you.
